


Mind Over Matter

by Ultra



Series: Moments in Time [33]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, Memories, Memory Loss, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2020-03-05 12:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18828820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Eliot loses his memory; Parker helps him get it back.





	Mind Over Matter

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for Jesco on LiveJournal, based on her prompt.

Of all members of his so-called team, Eliot seemed to have hurt the little blonde thief the most. He hadn’t meant to cause any kind of upset. The hitter was sure it must be as hard for these people as it was for him, to have their friend look at them and not know them. Eliot didn’t even remember what he had done to cause his memory loss, only that everything from the day he left home to now was a great gaping hole.

The woman named Sophie kept telling him he’d be fine, a little too vehemently for him to really believe her. Her guy, Nate, seemed to want to carry on as if everything was normal, punctuating his assurances that things would soon be back to normal with a shot of scotch. Then there was the geeky guy, Hardison. He was very quiet, which didn’t seem to suit him somehow, even though Eliot wasn’t sure why he would know that.

Parker was the one who seemed most upset not to be remembered. Of course, Eliot didn’t know why that should be and nobody would tell him. She had brought up some moment from a past heist just now, something about a Steranko that he was clearly meant to recall. The hitter came up completely blank on what that word even meant, and when he told her so, the poor girl bolted. The look in her eyes before she ran was haunting to say the least and made Eliot want to cry himself, though he knew he wouldn’t do it.

“Someone wanna explain to me why this amnesia thing cuts so deep with her?” he asked the others when she was gone from sight. “Did we date or something?” he checked.

Hardison choking on nothing seemed odd in that moment, but more than that, Eliot noticed the odd smile on Sophie’s lips.

“No, Eliot, you didn’t date,” she assured him, putting her hand over his own on the counter. “But Parker is... she’s fragile. There aren’t a lot of people in her life that care or that she genuinely cares for herself. You just happen to be one of them,” she explained as best she could.

The doctors had advised not telling Eliot too much. Best not to force the memories but to let them come naturally themselves. That was all very well but it was two weeks now since he woke up in a hospital bed and he was no further forward. Seemed the past was gone, and the future was always uncertain. Eliot was just going to have to make the best of the present, he figured.

“Where would Parker go?” he asked, looking from Sophie to Hardison and then Nate.

“Quite possibly the roof,” the mastermind suggested, knowing that the thief often retreated up high when upset.

“Tracker on her phone puts her in the building so could be,” the hacker nodded his agreement.

Eliot didn’t say anything, just hopped off his stool and headed on up to find Parker. He honestly wasn’t sure what he was going to say to her when he did catch up to her, but he had to do something. He had inadvertently caused her pain and therefore he should be the one to fix it.

Up on the roof, he found her sat near to the edge, her knees pulled up to her chest. She was staring out across Boston, the wind blowing her blonde hair back off her face. Eliot might’ve been afraid she was going to jump, except for the fact he had been told she loved heights and jumped off buildings for fun, albeit with a line in tow.

“Hey,” he said as he came to sit down beside her, but Parker never looked his way, even when she answered him.

“You don’t like heights,” she reminded him. “That’s what you said before. You never come this close to the edge.”

“Huh,” Eliot reacted with surprise. “I guess I forgot why.” He smirked a little at what was almost a joke, but it got no reaction from Parker.

When he looked more carefully, he realised why. The poor woman had been crying just moments before, the tracks of tears clear on her red cheeks. It made Eliot feel sick to his stomach, but he just didn’t know what to do to make it better. Maybe it would help if he remembered at least some of what had happened between them before, how their friendship had begun, anything. As it was he was completely in the dark.

“I’m sorry, darlin’,” he said, putting a careful arm around her shoulders to hopefully comfort her. “I wish I remembered, I honestly do, but...”

“But you don’t,” she answered for him. “I know, it’s not your fault,” she sniffed, leaning into him just a little. “I still hate it.”

“Me too,” he agreed, watching the horizon the same way she was. “I wish there was a magic spell or a pill I could take to make it all okay, but I guess it’s just-”

He got no further in the sentence when his lips were suddenly covered by Parker’s own. It ought to have occurred to Eliot to pull away, to tell her no, but it didn’t. He was too shocked in the first place and then it just felt like the most natural thing in the world to kiss her back.

A minute later, no longer, Parker pulled back and looked Eliot in the eye. She saw shock and confusion, and she did what she always did in response to that - scrambled to her feet and made to run again.

“Parker, wait!” Eliot called after her, trying to get to his feet just as fast, but she was as quick as a cat. “What’s sexting?”

She stopped short of the roof hatch when she heard those words.

“I came up on a window washer’s cradle, and I was your boyfriend. I couldn’t leave you behind...” he rattled out facts that came back to him all in a rush, first about that one job and then about so many others.

Parker turned slowly, a smile now spread right across her face. She was ecstatic, elated, every joyous word as she ran at him. Eliot didn’t have time to think about how close they were to the edge and was ever thankful for her ridiculous reflexes when she stopped right in front of him in a dead halt.

“It worked,” she said in no more than a whisper, before she kissed him again.

Eliot was back and she had missed him so very much. Clearly it was true what they said in fairytales about all curses being broken by a kiss. Parker had never been so happy about such a thing in her whole entire life.


End file.
